JICA Indonesia Office attends environmental education seminar at Labuan Bajo

A follow-up seminar on environmental education training in Japan for the West Manggarai region was organized by Indonesian Education Promoting Foundation (IEPF). The seminar was attended by representatives of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the head of the Education Department of West Manggarai, and 69 school principals, supervisors, and 4^th-grade elementary school teachers from the Komodo and Mbeliling districts.

The seminar's primary objective was to implement the lessons learned from training in Japan to develop digital teaching materials for environmental education and incorporate the Japanese-style lesson study into West Manggarai's educational system.

Education stakeholders had the opportunity to share their training experiences and deliberate on how best to integrate them through a digital teaching material. These materials, with a focus on enhancing environmental education, were aimed at improving students’ understanding of environmental issues. Additionally, they devised comprehensive plans for applying the Japanese lesson-study approach to their lessons.

Mr. Ono Nozomu, the JICA representative give the opening remarks about highlighting the JICA’s support, the significance of environmental education for sustainable development, and the program's expansion into East Indonesia, including West Manggarai. He expressed his hope that this program would strengthen collaboration between Japan and Indonesia in addressing development challenges, as well as provide an opportunity for knowledge exchange and sharing with other stakeholders.

“I hope this program promote cooperation between Japanese and Indonesian organization to address development challenges in Indonesia. This seminar is an opportunity for us to follow up with the participants and learn more about their experiences in Japan. It is also an opportunity to share the lessons learned with other stakeholders and to discuss how we can continue to support environmental education in West Manggarai”, Ono Nozomu stated.

The seminar presentation included contributions from the head of Education Department of West Manggarai and the digital book development team, comprising teachers, lecturers, and digital book expert. The seminar concluded with an overview of the project's progress by the IEPF Project team.

Mrs. Rita, a teacher, and a member of the digital book development team expressed her expectation for this pilot project. “I hope schools in West Manggarai have successfully implement the plastic waste reduction initiatives and maintain a clean environment. By providing engaging the digital books, it will inspire students to reduce plastic waste and adopt responsible waste management practices”, Mrs. Rita added.

The follow-up seminar was successful, and JICA proudly supports the environmental education project by IEPF-Yayasan Semarak in collaboration with the West Manggarai regency and the Education Department. They are committed to improve the environmental education through digital teaching methods. The environmental education book will be disseminated to students in Elementary School in West Manggarai in 2024.